Internet Providers & Working Remotely in Nicaragua

We have been asked many times if working remotely in Nicaragua is a viable option? Is the internet fast enough and reliable enough?

The simple answer is yes. The internet in Nicaragua is fast enough and reliable enough in the cities most expats choose to call home.

We have many friends working online in San Juan del Sur and they all agree that it is important to plan for service and power outages, by having a good back up method for connecting to the internet. A good plan for uninterrupted internet service always involves more than one internet service provider.

OUR STRATEGY FOR 100% UP TIME

HOME ISP

We live outside of the city centre so wired service is not an option for us and therefore we use a point to point provider. Our favourite company that has provided us with the best service is WifiNic. We pay $75 USD per month for a 2 Mbps package. This is easily fast enough for video calls, downloading large files and streaming video.

BACK UP ISP

Since power outages do occur in Nicaragua we have a backup plan. We have dual SIM cell phones with a SIM card that Movistar sells for wireless routers. If we really need to use some serious bandwidth we send a text message to activate a 1 Gig package that costs $4 USD for 24 hours. Then we turn our phone into a wireless hotspot, so all of our devices can receive internet.

NOTE: It’s important to always keep your phone and computer charged otherwise this back up plan isn’t of much use.

ALWAYS STAYING CONNECTED

Here in Nicaragua we use pay as you go cell phones.

Once per month we each load our phones with 500 cordobas ($18 USD) worth of credit (known here as saldo or recarga). Then we text the code “GB2” to the number “7000” which give us 2.5 Gig of data for 30 days.

Note: Purchasing credits of 300 cordobas ($10.71 USD) or more automatically gives you 3x the regular Movistar to Movistar calling minutes, which is good for up to 45 days.

Kharron Reid from Señor Coders Website Design is obviously trying to decide whether to work another hour or partake in happy hour on the beach. We helped Kharron, his wife Jenna and their two children move to San Juan del Sur over a year ago. The first year he worked remotely for a company in the USA, but most recently has decided to branch out on his own. Also hard at work in this photo is our friend and long time San Juan resident Sean Dennis, COO of Ribbit Rewards.

In San Juan del Sur we have a variety of different ways to access the internet:

Available almost everywhere — although some remote areas may only have Movistar or Claro — but not both.

1 Mbps – 10 Mbps speeds can be seen on tests. 5 Mbps is average for our testing.

Packages start at 35 cents USD for one day with 50 Mb of bandwidth.

In this article we’ve only given you a brief overview of internet pricing and packages available. Of course there multiple packages offered by each provider. Everyone has different needs when it comes to internet. As long as you have a plan working remotely in Nicaragua is possible.

Thanks for the update. Very useful. I do telepsychiatry and uninterrupted service with 5mbps is essential. How often and long are the power outages? I understand it may not be a local power outage but at the server site meaning a UPS is useless.

The longest power outage we’ve experienced in 4 1/2 years was 27 hours. Outages that long are very rare though. On occasion, maybe less than once per month, we have scheduled power outages, which we learn out about through Disnorte-Dissur’s website. A scheduled outage most often happens during the day and lasts between 4 – 6 hours.

Thank you!!! We have been looking into living on the beach in Nicaragua but really need reliable internet to work. A relief to hear the power outages are scheduled so we can plan around them too. Looks like we’ll go ahead with our month trip and if all goes well make the move! Again, thank you!!

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Welcome to In Nica Now

Hey there! We're Gordon and Elisha -- a semi-retired Canadian couple who is living and loving life in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. Together we created this blog so we could share our Nicaraguan expat experience with you.